Usual Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto please don't sue etc, etc.
"It's actually kind of amazing how after two years of doing this your hand writing is still horrible" 18 year old Iruka Umino said looking at the nearly filled in chalkboard and then down at his favorite but most troubling student.
"Hey! You can read it can't you!" 8 year old Naruto Uzumaki yelled, annoyed and disappointed that his final prank on Iruka as the man's student was a failure.
Shaking his head Iruka looked over at the contraption Naruto had rigged up that was sitting on his desk. Despite being the intended target for Naruto's prank Iruka, on some level, felt a little sorry for being the cause of Naruto's depression and decided to try and cheer the boy up. Maybe talking about the thing would lift his spirits a little.
"Hey what is this thing anyway?"
Looking away from his 200th 'I will not prank my sensei' sentence Naruto couldn't help but let out a small grin.
"It's my best work yet! An electric paint launcher!" Naruto proudly proclaimed.
"Electric huh? Did you buy it at that magic shop on 5th street?" Iruka asked having never heard of such a thing. Harnessed electricity had been around since his father had been Naruto's age but advancements in generating the energy were slow making it too valuable a commodity to be featured in a pranking toy. At least, in one Naruto should be able to afford.
"I didn't buy it. I made it"
"Oh really? Well come on, let's go out the training field. We'll try it out on a dummy while you explain it to me"
"Yatta! No more writing!" Naruto yelled jumping into the air excited to not only get away from the board but to also show his hard work to Iruka. The man had been like all the others at first but after Naruto had successfully snuck into the faculty locker room and put a spring loaded pie in Iruka's locker their relationship began to change due to just a few careless sentences.
"A spring loaded pie? That's not very original. I mean I was doing way better pranks than this when I was your age"
People had said how much they despised Naruto's pranks (and how much they despised him for that matter) but in that one statement Iruka did three things no one else had ever done before. He actually compared himself to Naruto, stated that they had a shared passion and then (unknowingly) challenged him to do better.
After that it took six whole months of failed pranking attempts (and punishments) of increasing quality to get Iruka to give Naruto a chance but for the last year the scarred teacher had become the best (and only) friend Naruto had ever had.
Upon reaching the academies 4th training ground, the one reserved for Iruka's class, Naruto quickly began to set up and explain his gear. "So you know how the pie prank was the only one I ever got you with? Well since I'll be going to another class and getting another teacher after the break I really wanted to get you again. So I thought pretty hard about that first prank and realized that it worked because no one was around and you didn't feel threatened so I rigged up this paint launcher to hit you before class started when you sat down at your desk."
"Smart but why didn't you just rig up a spring in the drawer?" Iruka asked wondering why the backup plan loving Naruto would put all his hopes in one tactic.
" 'Know your target' right sensei? I've watched you for a while now and I know that you've become a little paranoid about opening things. That's why I put a battery and wires in your chair cushion. Then I poked a hole in the rug under your chair, picked the drawer lock, installed the launcher in the drawer and left it cracked open so that it the pressure from the first shot of paint would've opened it up. I taped the wire from the main unit to the desk, ran it under the rug and up the inside of the right chair leg. Then I painted over the exposed parts of the wire so they blended in with the desk and the leg. Too bad you still saw it." Naruto finished a little dejectedly.
"Actually you did a very good job hiding this thing from view. I didn't actually see it until I started looking hard at my desk" Iruka complemented.
"Then how…"
"I could smell the paint"
"Ugh, stupid!" Naruto said slapping himself in the head. He'd been so worried about Iruka seeing his bulky machine he'd forgotten about the man's other senses.
"So how does this thing work?" Iruka asked the double barreled box looking familiar.
"Oh! It's so cool. Two weeks ago the microwave that came with my apartment stopped working and my crappy land lady said she wouldn't pay to get it fixed so I took it apart and tried to fix it myself. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with the heating part but I was able to fix the motor that turns that plate thing in the bottom of the microwave. I didn't want to waste it so I decided to use it in a prank and read up on batteries and wires and motors…"
"You read?" Iruka asked surprised, after all Naruto hated reading.
"Yeah, those books and diaphragms hurt my head…"
"Diagrams Naruto, a diaphragm is a totally different thing" Iruka cut in with a chuckle.
"Whatever, stop interrupting me! Anyways I learned enough to rig latches at the bottom of the cardboard barrels. The left barrel has one latch while the right has two. The circuit is broken until the target sits on the wires in the cushion which causes the motor to cut on and spin the tonged mini disc inside that wooden box. I tongs press against the first latches of each barrel releasing the spring loaded paint blatter of the left barrel first and then the second barrel's blatter a couple seconds later. The blatter travels down the barrel, gets poked by a tiny nail at the end and explodes! Cool huh? Bet you never did anything like this when you were my age!" Naruto said with a grin that faltered upon seeing Iruka's frown.
"Iruka-sensei?"
Catching himself Iruka smiled at Naruto and patted him on the head. At Naruto's confused look Iruka changed the subject. "I'll explain later Naruto, for now let's see this bad boy in action!"
"Cool! It's all set. I want you to set it off sensei!" Naruto said enthusiastically pointing to the cushion sitting on the ground.
Nodding Iruka stepped on the cushion causing tandem shots of orange paint to shoot out of the propped up barrels and into the face and torso of the wooden training dummy.
"Wow that reminds me of the stories my dad used to tell me of my grandfather's weapon" Iruka said gripped by a powerful wave of nostalgia.
"You mean some one already came up with something like this?" Naruto asked a little bummed that his awesome machine might not be as original as he thought.
"Not exactly... Hey do you want to see something cool?" Iruka asked in a stage whisper instantly drawing Naruto's interest. Quickly picking up Naruto's equipment Iruka lead him to a part of the village Naruto had never been to before, the cluster of clan districts. Naruto couldn't actually see into the districts due to the walls that seemed to be everywhere however Iruka led him past a set that looked a little more faded than the rest.
"What is the place?" Naruto asked looking at the large but somewhat unkempt yard with a large two story house surrounded by seven smaller ones.
"This is the Umino clan district" Iruka called back walking into the main house.
"Wait you have a clan!?" Naruto exclaimed running behind Iruka.
"I had a clan. We were always small compared to clans like the Yamanaka or Nara but the second and third shinobi wars really put a hurting on our numbers. It was so bad that there were only a handful of us left, me being the only child. Then the Kyuubi attack happened and… well it's just me now" Iruka said sadly.
"Sorry sensei" Naruto said quietly. Somehow feeling responsible for what happened to not only Iruka's family but all the families touched by the Kyuubi. Must have been all the bad feelings sent his way during the grand festival which also so happened to be the week of his birthday.
"It's not your fault Naruto. Besides I didn't bring you here to listen to a sob story, check this out" Iruka said pulling out a 60 cm (two feet) long wooden box. Opening it revealed a barrel with an opening about the size of Naruto's fist that gradually narrowed into a bulbous handle guard and a slim handle that had some kind of large button on the end.
"What is it?" Naruto asked.
"It's a… cannon…of sorts" Iruka answered picking it up.
"Whoa" Naruto said looking at the weapon in awe.
"Yeah, see my grandfather had terrible chakra control but was very strong. Since his Ninjutsu and Genjutsu were terrible he played to his strengths and became and weapon and Taijutsu user. Despite this he always envied people with big flashy jutsu. Sometime during his lifetime the first explosive sealing tags were developed and he thought they were the coolest things ever. However when he started to tie them to his kunai and throw them he was less impressed. Iwa-nin would use earth walls and armor to defend themselves and Suna-nin would just blow the kunai away. He thought about his problem for months and realized that the tag wasn't the problem. If he actually managed to get the tagged kunai close enough to his opponent's weak spots the explosion would usually do the trick. He started wrapping tags around arrows and had a little more success but wasn't satisfied. After all sometimes the arrows would actually bounce off the Iwa-nin's defenses only allowing the resulting explosions to do surface damage.
What he needed was something that was faster than a thrown kunai or even an arrow with far more penetrating and stopping power. The more he thought about it he realized that there was plenty of untapped power in explosions themselves and he made this" Iruka said handing the device to Naruto who was surprised by how heavy it was. Not wanting to seem like a weakling he chose not to comment on the weight and instead asked "How does it work".
"You turn so that your side, not your chest is facing your target and plant your feet like this. Hold the cannon with one hand at waist level in front of you…" Iruka said helping Naruto get into position. "Then you channel chakra to your free hand and slap the button on the end of the handle"
*Click*
"Um sensei, nothing happened" Naruto said with a confused frown. Was it broken? It sounded so cool…
*Slap!*
"Ow! What was that for!?" Naruto yelled rubbing the back of his head.
"For not thinking! You could've just seriously hurt yourself and blown a hole out my family's house!" Iruka yelled back despite knowing that Naruto would try to fire the weapon. It was all a part of the plan he'd come up with to try and inspire the boy.
"Sorry sensei, guess that was pretty stupid huh? " Naruto asked now ashamed that he nearly damaged his teacher's ancestral home.
Sighing Iruka knelt down to be eye level with Naruto "Naruto that was stupid but I don't want you to think you are. Do you know why I showed you this weapon?" Iruka asked to which Naruto could only shake his head.
"It's because of that" Iruka said pointing to Naruto's paint launcher.
"The creativity and type of mechanical ingenuity that you showed in making that thing at your age, all on your own, proves something that I suspected for a while now. You Naruto Uzumaki are a genius" Iruka said causing Naruto's eyes to widen considerably.
That word 'Genius' had always had a special meaning to Naruto. All the previous Hokage, a position Naruto wanted more than anything (even ramen), had all been geniuses. Sasuke Uchiha the kid who Naruto wanted to surpass so bad he could practically taste it was called a genius. And now here was the person Naruto trusted more than anyone saying he, Naruto Uzumaki, the dead last of his class was actually a Genius! Genuine, unbridled joy the likes of which he'd never known in his eight years of life flooded through his system to the point where he was about to literally jump with joy only for Iruka to grab his shoulders so hard it hurt (a lot).
"Naruto, I know you're happy but I need you to calm down and listen to me. I need you to do more than pay attention to what I'm about to say to you, I need you to absorb it like a sponge and remember it forever" Iruka paused only continuing at Naruto's excited nod.
"There are different types of Geniuses. There is the type that is blessed by Kami with natural ability in nearly everything they attempt. The Sandaime or even… Sasuke fall into this category. Naruto, you… don't"
At these words Naruto's spirits plummeted. Was Iruka making fun of him? Was he…
"Naruto look at me I'm not done" Iruka said nearly pausing again at the fresh tears welling up in Naruto's eyes.
"Then there is the type of Genius that focuses on, put effort into and perfect one amazing thing. My Grandfather was like this. He was great at Taijutsu and weapons so he focused on just them and let his other skills slide. When he realized this he developed a work around, his hand held cannon, which was an impressive show of ingenuity. But he then became focused on his new weapon and again he let his other skills slide. He became just a little slower to the point that he couldn't run fast enough to avoid an enemy jutsu and was crippled, ending his shinobi career."
"But even this didn't stop him from being obsessed with his creation. He started looking for ways to improve it and tried to use Fuinjutsu, an art he barley understood by the way, as a short cut. Can you guess what happened? The seals in his new cannon reacted badly with each other and he blew himself to kingdom come! My grandmother was bringing lunch to his workshop and was caught in the blast too. My father was only about your age. Naruto right now this is the type of Genius you are. When it comes to pranks you are amazing. All that stuff I said about being better at your age was just talk, I was never half the prankster you are. But Naruto, the path you've chosen, the path of a Ninja is isn't a game! It filled with dangers and horrors that I can't even begin to explain. You're a kid so I get that it's hard for you to grasp that but I need you to try to realize how dangerous your life is going to be. Naruto I worry for you, not that you will be a good ninja but that you'll go through you career only trying things that interest you. That you'll sleep on a skill that could save your life just because it's not 'fun' or 'flashy'"
"Seeing the fear in Naruto's eyes Iruka changed gears. "Naruto right now your like my grandfather but you don't have to end up like him because luckily there's another type of Genius. A Genius of hard work. These ninja train hard in their one amazing thing but train even harder in everything else" Seeing a look of slight confusion on Naruto's face Iruka struggled for an example that Naruto would truly grasp.
"Just take the Yondaime for example" Iruka said instantly seeing that Naruto had snapped out of his own thoughts at the mentioning of his hero and was listening even closer.
"His classmates made fun of him for being a nerd, always studying his books on seals an art that they thought was only good for storage and explosive notes. They made fun of him for being terrible at Taijutsu and the slowest in his class" A bold faced lie but Iruka was trying to motivate and quite possibly save the life of a very unique but currently dense child. He was sure that, wherever it was, the Yondaime's spirit would forgive him.
"So what did he do? He realized that he was too slow; especially to use his strength, the powerful but complicated and time consuming art of Fuinjutsu in combat and trained every day to get better. He trained so hard that he became faster than any other Konoha-nin. And when he met the Raikage who was even faster than him in battle what did he do? He used his Fuinjutsu to make himself even faster and outpace the Raikage in their second battle! Something that wouldn't have been possible without the years of hard work he put into his running" Again, not how things happened but Iruka could see that the lie was having the desired effect. Good thing Naruto liked to sleep through the history portion of his class.
"So Naruto do you understand what I'm saying to you? I mean who do you want to be like? The Yondaime or my grandfather?"
Closing his eyes so hard they almost looked fox-like Naruto thought hard on everything that Iruka'd said. It took ten entire minutes (the longest Iruka had ever seen Naruto be quiet and still) but eventually Naruto opened his eyes and looked at Iruka with a seriousness he'd never seen on the boy before. A look that inspired Iruka's confidence in the child but also inadvertently intimidated him just a little bit.
"I understand"
"Good, now what do you say we take this bad boy outside and fire it for real?" Iruka asked causing a huge grin to spread across Naruto's face.
A few minutes later in Iruka's back yard, Naruto watched as the man detached the weapon's barrel from the handle and unscrew the previously unseen metal plate from the barrels bottom. Placing a small sealing tag in the plate Iruka reassembled the weapon and then poured a bottle of rubber pellets down the barrel.
"All right Naruto here you go, try and hit that paper target over there" Iruka said pointing to the cardboard silhouette target 6 meters (20ish feet) away.
"Seriously! Your gonna let me fire it for real!?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"Sure, the tag I used isn't even half as strong as what my grandfather used and you're firing rubber pellets instead of rocks or metal. You'll be fine just…put these on" Iruka said unsealing a helmet with a visor on it and a large pair of ear muffs.
Quickly putting the items on Naruto, in his excitement completely forgot about the way Iruka told him to fire the weapon and faced the target holding the cannon straight out in front of his chest. Channeling so much chakra to his free hand you could almost see it he slammed it into the button.
*Boom!*
"Ahh-oof!" Naruto screamed before the handle of the weapon slammed into his chest knocking the air out of him and causing him to trip backwards over his own feet.
"Ow, now I see why no one else uses this thing" Naruto said sitting up and rubbing his chest.
"No one uses it because they thought it was a part of a jutsu. My grandfather hid the simplicity of the weapon by making a few one handed seals before firing it" Iruka said while laughing heartily.
"That's pretty smart…hey! Stop laughing at me! It's not like you told me about the kick back" Naruto grumbled.
"It's called recoil and it wouldn't have been as big a problem if you'd fired it like I told you!" Iruka yelled back.
Naruto was about to reply until his eyes landed on the target. "Cool! I was aiming at its head but the whole thing is filled with holes! Hey sensei how can you let something so cool just sit in a box? Why don't you use this thing yourself?"
"Because it takes too long to load in battle and can only safely be fired a handful of times. My grandfather worked around this by using storage seals to hold dozens of these things on his person at a time. Plus now a days shinobi wear flack vests that do well at catching the shrapnel the weapon fires" Iruka said.
"Why didn't you just work on it and make it better?" Naruto asked like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"I…my father thought these weapons were cursed and I guess some of that transferred over to me. I didn't even touch one of these until a few years ago when I was looking for an edge in the Chunin exams I ended up going with something else though"
"Curse shumrsh. This thing could use some tinkering but is still super cool!" Naruto yelled looking down at the weapon reverently.
"You really think so? Well then…you can have it…" Iruka said causing Naruto to nearly drop the weapon in his surprise.
"Really? Are you sure? I mean isn't this a family heirloom, don't you want to save it for your kids or something?" Naruto asked interrupting Iruka in his elation.
"This weapon crippled my family's spirit long before the fox finished them off. I don't want it. But I do think that in the right hands, the hands of a genius of hard work, this weapon could be something truly special. Now, hand it over"
"Hand it over? I thought you said I can have it!" Naruto said clutching the weapon tight.
"Yup but I also said 'in the hands of a genius of hard work'. This isn't a toy Naruto and giving it to you now is far too dangerous so I'll make you a deal. If you can graduate rookie of the year I'll not only give you this weapon but I'll throw in my grandfather's journal and his other two weapons that are left"
"Rookie of the Year? I could nev…" Naruto started but stopped when he thought about everything Iruka had said. Sure he was at the bottom of the class now but Naruto knew that was mostly because his first attempts at learning where sabotaged from the jump. After all it was only thanks to extra sessions with Iruka that Naruto knew that the tutors at the orphanage had taught him the wrong letters for certain sounds, the wrong numbers for certain values. They even told him that the name of his favorite color was tonkner. What the hell is a tonkner anyway?
But after only a short time with Iruka he'd learned enough to read complicated civilian books (well ok, they had the words 'For Dummies' in their titles but they were still plenty complicated for Naruto) and make his kick ass paint launcher. Maybe if he stopped goofing off so much and worked hard he could do it. Maybe he could be a genius like the fourth. There was only one problem.
"Sensei, how am I supposed to do that without you? I mean you've seen the way the other teachers at the academy look at me right?"
"I tell you what Naruto. You try your best, keep a journal of the results of every practical exercise and a folder of every written quiz and test and bring them to me every Friday evening and I'll make sure you get a fair shot. Even if I have to but my very career on the line, that's how much I believe in you" Iruka said looking Naruto in the eyes so that the child knew he meant every word.
"Well then hold on to my weapon for a few years sensei because I'll be getting it back! And don't worry about your job neither cause once I'm Hokage I'll make you Headmaster or something!"
"Humph, I'll hold you to that Hokage-sama. Now come on let's go get some ramen to seal the deal although now that you're gonna start training seriously were going have to change up your diet. Maybe some greens…"
"Eww! Do we have to?"
"Yup" Iruka said as he sealed up the weapon and patted Naruto on the head while turning to head back into the village.
"The things you gotta do to be great, next you're gonna tell me I have to do homework over the summer" Naruto said shaking his head.
"Funny you should say that" Iruka said reaching into his Chunin vest and pulling out a small scroll and handing it to Naruto.
"'Fuinjutsu for beginners Volume 1'?" Naruto said reading the scroll.
"The day before the new school year starts I'll be giving you a test on the contents of that scroll. You better study hard but don't try and actually make any seals yourself until I say its ok. Don't tell anybody you're studying Fuinjutsu either, for now it's none of their business" Iruka instructed thinking about the trouble he could get in if Naruto accidentally sealed a hand away or blew himself up. However Naruto blowing himself up was exactly why he was doing this. Naruto had already said the weapon needed tinkering; well he'd feel a lot better about that if the boy had a few years of Fuinjutsu study under his belt first. He'd be damned if he let what happened to his grandfather happen to Naruto.
"Ok sensei I promise. Hey I was wondering something. What did your grandfather call these things? I mean if I named it I'd call it 'SUPER AWESOME DRAGON'S BREATH MEGA CANNON!' or something like that" Naruto yelled his hands thrown up in the air for dramatic effect.
"Funny you should say that. My grandfather called this particular model a Dragoon. But he called all of his explosion using weapons Guns"
"Guns? Where'd he get that name from?"
"Don't know"
"Gun…you know what? I think I like the sound of that!"
A/N: So this story's pretty much a tool to try and work through the massive case of writer's block I ran into with my other story Way of Hatred. Just trying to get the creative juices flowing again. That being said I always wanted to write a gun slinging Naruto story so I'm gonna take this one pretty seriously. Unlike WOH this story will weave in and out of cannon but will eventually take a left turn. Reviews are always welcome.
P.S: I realize this chapter may have been a little dry so I'm posting chapter 2 with it.